1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates in general to high pressure fluid choke devices and, more particularly, to choke devices designed for use on oil and gas wells.
2. Prior Art.
One of the most potentially dangerous and expensive situations faced by the petrochemical industry has been prevention of well blowouts. In order to prevent well blowouts, much research and development time and money has been expended to design high pressure fluid choke devices. The most popular devices are those presently marketed by NL Industries, Inc. as described in their publication NLS 4881-580, Dresser Industries as described in their publication entitled, "When You Are Caught Under Pressure . . . Patterson Adjustable Choke".
In the pending application indicated above, applicant disclosed a hydraulic choke device that substantially overcame the prior art difficulties. The design of this invention improves further the backup drive assembly, reduces the size of the choke device to allow its use in more applications, increases wear life of the wear plug, decreases further the down time during repairs by providing a removable packing gland which allows changing of all pressure packing without complete disassembly of the choke actuator assembly, and improving the seal between the wear plug and ram. Also, a visual position indicator is located on the acutator to provide operator with a visual means of knowing what orifice size is being used.